[Music]
have you heard of Jennifer Aniston would
you like to meet her she is after all an
a-lister someone who’s so famous that we
feel that maybe that we all know her a
little bit well I’m a journalist and a
few years ago I had the chance to
interview Jennifer Aniston so as I was
preparing for this interview feeling a
little nervous because you know it’s
Jennifer Aniston I also began to feel a
little bit irritated because Jennifer
Aniston had recently turned 40 years old
and all the media coverage around it was
about that and about basically how it
was the apocalypse for now as a
journalist my job is supposedly to go to
people and ask those questions that
everyone is thinking so was I really
going to go and interview Jennifer
Aniston and say this to her hey Jennifer
how do you feel about turning 40 without
Brad Pitt’s without a baby and now
apparently you’re gonna lose your looks
too because you’re getting old it’s not
really something any one human being
should ever say to another and what
annoyed me even more as I continue
preparing was I found out that her
co-star in this particular film Owen
Wilson had also just turned 40 a few
weeks before Jennifer and nobody cared
this really got me thinking you know why
are we so obsessed with a woman’s age
and her looks in the same way that we’re
not quite as
obsessed about a man’s so I decided to
flip things around and to ask her that
now Jennifer gave me a wonderful
diplomatic Hollywood answer about how
things were tougher in the film industry
for women than for men but my thinking
on this subject was really confirmed a
few months later when I interviewed the
actress Sandra Bullock and as I exited
the room she called after me thank you
so much for being the first person not
to ask me about being an older woman in
Hollywood age bodies relationships why
are we so interested in them when it
comes to women since that time I’ve been
a woman on a mission because I want to
ask famous women about their work but
it’s difficult sometimes to get the
opportunity to do that
the Internet’s over the last 20 years
has made celebrity gossip really really
accessible and I’m sure most of us now
with social media have our Facebook and
our Instagram accounts and Instagram is
really king of social media at the
moment I mean it’s so easy you scroll
through you drop a like you look at
pretty pictures of pretty people all the
time and if you’re posting on Instagram
you know all the angles and all the
filters that make you look good I have
even seen four year old girls who know
what angles and poses to assume in order
to make them look good on Instagram so
yeah the media’s quite bad but isn’t the
media a reflection of society does this
actually come from within ours after all
isn’t it ingrained within us from the
time that we’re little girls I don’t
know if any of you but I certainly was I
was known as daddy’s little princess
I think it’s the highest compliment we
can ever pay a little girl in a nice
dress to go look how pretty you are
that’s first of all that’s the best
compliment we can pay her Intelli
instead of telling her that she’s kind
or smart if you go to a toy shop you
will see an explosion of pink sparkles
glitter Barbies all aimed at little
girls
then there’s Disney Princesses and this
hope that one day all little girls will
meet their prince charming so I think
it’s imprinted on our brains from that
time and I think boys can grow up with
that idea of little girls as well
however when it comes to celebrity
gossip and the people who are reading it
it’s not you guys it’s not men who is
reading it it’s women who are clicking
on these articles about age and
relationships and how to keep your body
looking good the most popular news
website in the world at the moment I
will tell you is something called the
mail online it’s an english-language
publication and it has at least 20
million viewers and readers daily it’s
massive and who are the main readers of
it it’s women aged between 20 and 60
some of them have kids some of them are
going to go on and have kids too and
it’s it’s really easy site to read and
it’s quite funny I don’t know if you’ve
seen it but it’s got what we British
call a sidebar of shame and that is
basically it’s mainly female celebrities
and you can scroll down and have a look
and it’s basically pictures of women in
in tight outfits or on red carpets or
how they’re out shopping in Hollywood
and today they’re looking to thin
too fat too old too young or maybe that
their legs just aren’t great today so
that’s the world’s most read news
websites at the moment and it seems so
harmless doesn’t it just just to click
on it I mean Here I am telling you about
this stuff and I know how easy it is to
click on things like that because a few
weeks ago I believe that Kim
Kardashian’s on airbrushed ass broke the
internet again and I clicked on that
picture I did it too so it’s really
really easy and it seems so harmless
doesn’t it one little trick but in fact
with every click on those kind of
websites you are generating more revenue
for that media organization from the
advertising and also when we do that a
message is sent to the advertisers and
to that organization that we like
stories like that that they need to find
more that they should publish more of
them because they’re popular and they
will get more money but there’s there’s
also something else that makes it less
harmless I think as human beings we are
created to you yearn to seek beauty and
I think that we also want to seek a
higher purpose I think it’s in our DNA
it is built within us but if we turn it
in on ourselves too much that quest for
beauty and that quest for meaning or if
we focus it too much on other people
then it can lead to envy comparison and
in the worst cases mental health
problems I was really upset to read a
few weeks ago that in the UK for girls
aged between 16 and 24
one in four of them had admitted to
self-harming that’s cutting yourself
usually that’s what it means and a
similar number said that they felt
worthless I consider that word worthless
without value it’s a terrible thing for
a young woman to say about herself and
yet as well if you asked a 17 year old
girl in the United States according to a
survey recently a 17 year old girl you
asked her what she thought of her body
four out of five of those girls who were
asked would tell you that she hated it
and I think that it’s not just important
for women to know this but I think it’s
also important for guys to understand
what’s going on as well because recently
in the UK anorexia amongst young teenage
men has doubled so this objectification
this worship of the self this this
seeking after the body and and all the
surface it’s coming for you as well I
think that we’re in some kind of
poisonous cycle really where women where
we have already absorbed these messages
that our looks are all important are
passing this on to the next generation
without really realizing it and they
have social media they are living in an
even more visual age I passionately
believe there is a direct link between
what we are seeing in the media and how
we feel inside you can’t escape it so
what is the solution well I think there
is a solution but it’s going to take you
the public and as the media to work
together to do it firstly consider
before you click I know that sounds
strange but let me enlighten you say for
example there is a website and there’s a
beautiful young woman in a in a short
dress on a night outs and it seems like
a really mindless celebrity story just
to just to look at well are you seeing
the whole picture what if I actually
showed you the whole photo of that
woman’s night out what if I showed you
that she was being chased down the
street by 30 photographers taking her
picture without permission would you be
so eager to read that article then I
have seen with my own eyes Britney
Spears taken to hospital some years ago
suffering from nervous exhaustion after
a life bombarded with the paparazzi and
I have seen Amy Winehouse in London
chased down the road by photographers as
well for her image most celebrities to
be clear on this are not colluding with
the media to give away all aspects of
their personal life most people really
want to be interviewed for their work
and their talent so that’s the first
thing you can do the second is to really
get behind women like Emma Watson who
are already calling the system out I
admire greatly for the fact that she is
campaigning tirelessly and speaking out
about the way that the entertainment
industry treats women now it will be
wonderful she is
Himani for so many Millennials it would
be wonderful if she can work her magic
but people like her need your support
they suffer an awful lot of abuse for
speaking up about this because in a way
it’s going against the industry itself
and then the media what do we need to do
about it
well I think that the question on
whether social media needs to be
regulated is a subject for a whole on a
TED talk but speaking as a journalist
personally I think that the mainstream
media has to acknowledged that we have a
really toxic system it’s pointless
talking about strong female role models
and when there is one in front of you we
ask them whether or not they want kids
for example so I would like the
mainstream news media to really get
together to come together and see pledge
to ask famous women more I believe that
we can shift the narrative that we can
change the conversation if we do it
together and this is what I want from my
world the world
I work in there instead of age bodies
relationships there instead we hear from
women about their talents their opinions
and their beliefs thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
have you heard of Jennifer Aniston would
you like to meet her she is after all an
a-lister someone who’s so famous that we
feel that maybe that we all know her a
little bit well I’m a journalist and a
few years ago I had the chance to
interview Jennifer Aniston so as I was
preparing for this interview feeling a
little nervous because you know it’s
Jennifer Aniston I also began to feel a
little bit irritated because Jennifer
Aniston had recently turned 40 years old
and all the media coverage around it was
about that and about basically how it
was the apocalypse for now as a
journalist my job is supposedly to go to
people and ask those questions that
everyone is thinking so was I really
going to go and interview Jennifer
Aniston and say this to her hey Jennifer
how do you feel about turning 40 without
Brad Pitt’s without a baby and now
apparently you’re gonna lose your looks
too because you’re getting old it’s not
really something any one human being
should ever say to another and what
annoyed me even more as I continue
preparing was I found out that her
co-star in this particular film Owen
Wilson had also just turned 40 a few
weeks before Jennifer and nobody cared
this really got me thinking you know why
are we so obsessed with a woman’s age
and her looks in the same way that we’re
not quite as
obsessed about a man’s so I decided to
flip things around and to ask her that
now Jennifer gave me a wonderful
diplomatic Hollywood answer about how
things were tougher in the film industry
for women than for men but my thinking
on this subject was really confirmed a
few months later when I interviewed the
actress Sandra Bullock and as I exited
the room she called after me thank you
so much for being the first person not
to ask me about being an older woman in
Hollywood age bodies relationships why
are we so interested in them when it
comes to women since that time I’ve been
a woman on a mission because I want to
ask famous women about their work but
it’s difficult sometimes to get the
opportunity to do that
the Internet’s over the last 20 years
has made celebrity gossip really really
accessible and I’m sure most of us now
with social media have our Facebook and
our Instagram accounts and Instagram is
really king of social media at the
moment I mean it’s so easy you scroll
through you drop a like you look at
pretty pictures of pretty people all the
time and if you’re posting on Instagram
you know all the angles and all the
filters that make you look good I have
even seen four year old girls who know
what angles and poses to assume in order
to make them look good on Instagram so
yeah the media’s quite bad but isn’t the
media a reflection of society does this
actually come from within ours after all
isn’t it ingrained within us from the
time that we’re little girls I don’t
know if any of you but I certainly was I
was known as daddy’s little princess
I think it’s the highest compliment we
can ever pay a little girl in a nice
dress to go look how pretty you are
that’s first of all that’s the best
compliment we can pay her Intelli
instead of telling her that she’s kind
or smart if you go to a toy shop you
will see an explosion of pink sparkles
glitter Barbies all aimed at little
girls
then there’s Disney Princesses and this
hope that one day all little girls will
meet their prince charming so I think
it’s imprinted on our brains from that
time and I think boys can grow up with
that idea of little girls as well
however when it comes to celebrity
gossip and the people who are reading it
it’s not you guys it’s not men who is
reading it it’s women who are clicking
on these articles about age and
relationships and how to keep your body
looking good the most popular news
website in the world at the moment I
will tell you is something called the
mail online it’s an english-language
publication and it has at least 20
million viewers and readers daily it’s
massive and who are the main readers of
it it’s women aged between 20 and 60
some of them have kids some of them are
going to go on and have kids too and
it’s it’s really easy site to read and
it’s quite funny I don’t know if you’ve
seen it but it’s got what we British
call a sidebar of shame and that is
basically it’s mainly female celebrities
and you can scroll down and have a look
and it’s basically pictures of women in
in tight outfits or on red carpets or
how they’re out shopping in Hollywood
and today they’re looking to thin
too fat too old too young or maybe that
their legs just aren’t great today so
that’s the world’s most read news
websites at the moment and it seems so
harmless doesn’t it just just to click
on it I mean Here I am telling you about
this stuff and I know how easy it is to
click on things like that because a few
weeks ago I believe that Kim
Kardashian’s on airbrushed ass broke the
internet again and I clicked on that
picture I did it too so it’s really
really easy and it seems so harmless
doesn’t it one little trick but in fact
with every click on those kind of
websites you are generating more revenue
for that media organization from the
advertising and also when we do that a
message is sent to the advertisers and
to that organization that we like
stories like that that they need to find
more that they should publish more of
them because they’re popular and they
will get more money but there’s there’s
also something else that makes it less
harmless I think as human beings we are
created to you yearn to seek beauty and
I think that we also want to seek a
higher purpose I think it’s in our DNA
it is built within us but if we turn it
in on ourselves too much that quest for
beauty and that quest for meaning or if
we focus it too much on other people
then it can lead to envy comparison and
in the worst cases mental health
problems I was really upset to read a
few weeks ago that in the UK for girls
aged between 16 and 24
one in four of them had admitted to
self-harming that’s cutting yourself
usually that’s what it means and a
similar number said that they felt
worthless I consider that word worthless
without value it’s a terrible thing for
a young woman to say about herself and
yet as well if you asked a 17 year old
girl in the United States according to a
survey recently a 17 year old girl you
asked her what she thought of her body
four out of five of those girls who were
asked would tell you that she hated it
and I think that it’s not just important
for women to know this but I think it’s
also important for guys to understand
what’s going on as well because recently
in the UK anorexia amongst young teenage
men has doubled so this objectification
this worship of the self this this
seeking after the body and and all the
surface it’s coming for you as well I
think that we’re in some kind of
poisonous cycle really where women where
we have already absorbed these messages
that our looks are all important are
passing this on to the next generation
without really realizing it and they
have social media they are living in an
even more visual age I passionately
believe there is a direct link between
what we are seeing in the media and how
we feel inside you can’t escape it so
what is the solution well I think there
is a solution but it’s going to take you
the public and as the media to work
together to do it firstly consider
before you click I know that sounds
strange but let me enlighten you say for
example there is a website and there’s a
beautiful young woman in a in a short
dress on a night outs and it seems like
a really mindless celebrity story just
to just to look at well are you seeing
the whole picture what if I actually
showed you the whole photo of that
woman’s night out what if I showed you
that she was being chased down the
street by 30 photographers taking her
picture without permission would you be
so eager to read that article then I
have seen with my own eyes Britney
Spears taken to hospital some years ago
suffering from nervous exhaustion after
a life bombarded with the paparazzi and
I have seen Amy Winehouse in London
chased down the road by photographers as
well for her image most celebrities to
be clear on this are not colluding with
the media to give away all aspects of
their personal life most people really
want to be interviewed for their work
and their talent so that’s the first
thing you can do the second is to really
get behind women like Emma Watson who
are already calling the system out I
admire greatly for the fact that she is
campaigning tirelessly and speaking out
about the way that the entertainment
industry treats women now it will be
wonderful she is
Himani for so many Millennials it would
be wonderful if she can work her magic
but people like her need your support
they suffer an awful lot of abuse for
speaking up about this because in a way
it’s going against the industry itself
and then the media what do we need to do
about it
well I think that the question on
whether social media needs to be
regulated is a subject for a whole on a
TED talk but speaking as a journalist
personally I think that the mainstream
media has to acknowledged that we have a
really toxic system it’s pointless
talking about strong female role models
and when there is one in front of you we
ask them whether or not they want kids
for example so I would like the
mainstream news media to really get
together to come together and see pledge
to ask famous women more I believe that
we can shift the narrative that we can
change the conversation if we do it
together and this is what I want from my
world the world
I work in there instead of age bodies
relationships there instead we hear from
women about their talents their opinions
and their beliefs thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
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